The Mystery of the Missing Elevensies
by Laureloth
Summary: An average hobbit family encounters trouble when Mum's delicious torte (made especially for elevensies) disappears. Will young Peony Bracegirdle save the day? (Short, easy, cute read!)
1. The Mos' Lovely Torte

A/N: I originally wrote this short story for my English class after being assigned to write a mystery. I shall break it into two short chapters, because I'm picky like that. :-P Anyway, here follows the disclaimer: I do not lay claim to Hobbits, the Shire, or anything else that master J.R.R. Tolkien created. However, the characters in this story are mine. Enjoy, and please review!  
  
~*~*~ Chapter One- The Mos' Lovely Raspberry an' Strawberry Torte! ~*~*~  
  
As everyone with even the smallest inkling of knowledge regarding the lives and habits of the Hobbits knows, this race may be diminutive in size, but what they lack in stature, they make up for in appetite. Hobbits enjoy eating many meals a day, including first breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper. The Hobbits need this sort of a structured routine to their meals so that they will always remain well-fed and full, because a well-fed, full Hobbit is a happy Hobbit!  
The Bracegirdle family of Hardbottle, a small section of the Shire, was perhaps the perfect example of a normal, jolly Hobbit family. The patriarch of this family was Mr. Hallofast Bracegirdle, and he had a lovely wife by the name of Mirabella Proudfoot-Bracegirdle. Their family also consisted of a number of round, curly-haired Hobbit children, called Peony, Hamwell, Marigold, Rori, Melilot, and little Tom, respectively. The family may have had their quirks, but they were altogether as jovial a family as ever lived in the Shire.  
One fine morning in the month of May, or Thrimidge as the month was called in the tongue of the Hobbits, Mrs. Mirabella Proudfoot-Bracegirdle announced to her family over their first breakfast that they would be having visitors for elevensies that very day. This produced a collective groan from the children, for, while Hobbits are not of a selfish nature, they do love their food and are often loth to share it with visitors.   
"But, Mum," cried little Melilot, her mouth spilling crumbs of honey cake as she spoke, "You baked the mos' lovely raspberry an' strawberry torte! I dun' want to share!" She whined, finishing up her cup of tea as she made this statement. Her mother glared at her in exasperation in the way that only a true Hobbit mother can do. "Melilot Bracegirdle, what kin' of manners are those?" She asked, roughly wiping her daughter's mouth with a handkerchief. "If I hear anything like that ou' of your mouth again, little lady, it'll be a week without second breakfast for you!" her father said sternly. Melilot pouted and sulked, but it was to no avail. The beautiful raspberry-strawberry torte was to be shared with the Grubb family that very morning.  
As the hour until elevensies slowly dwindled away, the Bracegirdle family was on edge. Every time one of the children would scamper through the kitchen on his or her way outside, the child would involuntarily slow down to admire the mouthwatering torte. It had three layers of a wonderful golden-yellow cake, and in between each layer was cream packed an inch thick and dotted with pieces of strawberries and raspberries. The top had a three-inch high layer of cream, which Mirabella had painstakingly decorated with berries into an intricate swirled and colorful pattern. Each child would lovingly stare at the torte, admiring its extraordinary height and its wonderful, sweet scent. But Mirabella was ever lurking, giving her children and any friends they might bring in a watchful glance to make sure they did not lay even a finger on the masterpiece. Mirabella Proudfoot-Bracegirdle was perhaps a bit vain, but not in the way of looks. No, it was her cooking that she was proud of. Mirabella's dishes had won quite a few awards at the Shire's annual County Fair, but she always had to share the glory with Mrs. Adeline Grubb. Adeline was Mirabella's cooking nemesis. Outside of the kitchen, they were friendly, but inside- Eru save anybody who got in their way! Both had a healthy degree of the competitive spirit and were constantly trying to outdo one another at the County Fair. Mirabella was still smarting over the last Fair's upset. She had made 24 jars of Peach-apple Preserves, uncommonly well spiced and with an absolutely perfect consistency. She was a shoe-in for the blue ribbon... until Mrs. Adeline Grubb brought out 36 jars of Peach-apple-apricot Preserves, all tied with a little red ribbon 'round the top. Mirabella had steamed for days after getting second place, but now she took grim satisfaction in knowing that Adeline's Peach-apple-apricot Preserves didn't hold a candle to her torte. This torte was unlike anything she had ever made before, and if it didn't shake Adeline up a little bit and maybe scare her into thinking she might lose her title as reigning queen in the baking division of the County Fair (a division Mirabella had never won in), she didn't know what would.  
Unfortunately, Hamwell, the second to youngest child (followed only by little Tom), decided to get himself into trouble by falling into a puddle of mud and soiling his clothes that day. Mirabella, anxious to make a good impression on the visiting (and rather affluent) Grubb family, immediately hauled Ham into a tub filled with hastily, half-heated water to scrub him down. Half of Hardbottle could hear her yells that morning as she admonished her son for behaving so immaturely.  
"HAMWELL BRACEGIRDLE!" her shrill voice cried, accompanied by various shrieks of pain as she scrubbed her son a bit too hard. "I canna' believe you would do this! What with the Great Elevensies comin' up I'da though you would-a wanted to look presentable! Don't you wan' your mother to be able to show Adeline Grubb what an excellent family she has?! Don't you wan' her to WIN at the County FAIR?!" And that was how it continued for fifteen minutes, until Hamwell came out scrubbed pink as a newborn piglet and smelling of lavender soap. 


	2. Mirabella's Worst Nightmare Comes True

A/N: I still don't own J.R.R. Tolkien's fabulous world of Middle-earth, the Shire, nor the race of hobbits. The individual characters, however, are mine.  
  
~*~*~Chapter Two- Mirabella's Worst Nightmare Comes True~*~*~  
  
By the time little Hamwell's bath was finished, it was ten fifty, and as Hobbits are never late, the Grubb family was knocking at the door of the Bracegirdle's Hobbit hole (or smial as they liked to call it) at that very moment. Mirabella anxiously straightened her children's clothing, stood them all in a line, tried unsuccessfully to flatten the curls that sprung up all over their heads (patting Hamwell unusually hard), and then finally answered the door.   
All six of the Grubbs tumbled in, with Mrs. Adeline Grubb at the head. She announced loudly that her husband was unable to make it (at which the Bracegirdle children shot each other happy grins that seemed to say, "More food for us!") and then she followed Mirabella into the dining room, her eyes shifting back and forth as she tried to see if Mirabella had any jars of Preserves for the upcoming Fair lying around. Of course, there was nothing of the sort, and the Grubb children were getting hungry. Luckily, Hobbits are used to entertaining, and the Bracegirdles had a table that could seat a small army, so all the children and the parents fit comfortably around it.   
After a few moments of small talk and strawberries, in which the adults politely discussed the weather, Mirabella nervously announced that she would be serving the main course. Adeline's ears perked up at this. Motioning for Peony to help, mother and daughter went into the kitchen to serve the plates of cold ham and eggs that had been prepared earlier, and also to admire the lovely torte, which was to be the high point of the meal. Imagine their astonishment when they found the spot the torte had occupied to be empty! Peony gasped loudly, and Mirabella burst into tears. Luckily, the crying did not last and soon she took charge, determined to find the torte and show Adeline just what she could do.  
"Peony, go an' find out what happened to my torte! Ask all your siblings and that no-good father of yours if they know wha' happened. I'm a-going to serve the main course but you cannot let Adeline Grubb know what happened!" she said fiercely. Peony nodded, her chestnut curls bouncing left and right, and scurried off to investigate.   
Once in the dining room, where the conversation had grown to a din as the children laughed and shouted, Peony began to ask each of her siblings if they knew what had happened. Their answers have been recorded as follows: Hallofast: "My dear daughter, do you really think I would be so rude as to steal the cake? Of course I did not take it, nor eat it, and I do not know where it is, thank you very much!" (Indignantly) Hamwell: "Uh-uh, I was in the bath the whole time- I didn't do it!" (Ruefully, while massaging a sore arm) Marigold: "Peony Bracegirdle, who died and made you boss? Don't act like you're in charge a-cuz you're not! An' I didn't take it anyway." (Snottily) Rori: "I only took a small lick of the cream! Please, don' tell Mum! I didn't take the whole thing though, honest!" (Fearfully) Melilot: "Wasn't me!" (While chewing some bacon she had snitched from the kitchen)  
After Peony had questioned her siblings, she puzzled over what had happened. Mirabella was glaring at her from red-rimmed eyes as she served the first course, and Peony felt sad as she shook her head ever so slightly to show she hadn't made any progress in the case. With a heavy heart, she sat down to eat her ham but found she could only pick at it. Something was bothering her... something was missing... AHA! With a jolt, Peony realized what was wrong.  
Peony jumped up from the table, dropping her fork onto the floor in the process. She began to search around the house frantically. She began to look in the pantries, the larder, under tables, under chairs... and soon she noticed that the entire table had fallen silent and was watching her. Peony gave them her most charming grin, making sure her dimples showed, and shrugged. "Just looking for my little brother is all!" She said, trying to hide the fact that she was also looking for something else. But unfortunately little Melilot did not have as much tact as her older sister.  
"Peony you're looking for tha' raspberry-strawberry torte tha' Mummy lost!" she exclaimed, spraying bits of chewed up eggs as she spoke. Immediately an uproar broke out. Adeline's eyes bulged out and her mouth formed a small "o". Mirabella was yelling at Melilot, the Grubb children were demanding pieces of the torte, and generally, chaos erupted. It went on like this for about ten minutes until suddenly, everyone heard an odd noise from the kitchen. It sounded like a wailing, as of someone in pain.   
'EVERYBODY, BE QUIET!" Peony yelled. To her surprise, the room fell silent and all that could be heard was the wailing. Peony ran into the kitchen, followed by all the other Hobbits who were wondering what was going on. In the kitchen the wailing grew louder, and Peony followed it to a large cabinet underneath the table. She pulled wide open the doors and there was little Tom Bracegirdle sitting with his hands on his stomach and tears in his eyes. Next to him was the empty platter that the great torte had been on, and his face was smeared with whipped cream. "Ooh...oooh... me tummy hurts!" Tom wailed. There was a silence as the other Hobbits stared at the plump child, wide-eyed. Suddenly, everybody burst out laughing and hooting and hollering with mirth at the sight of the poor little child who had devoured a whole three-layer torte all by himself.  
*** The Great Elevensies remained a favorite story of the Bracegirdles (and the Grubbs) for years to come. They would often retell it at parties and it never failed to get a laugh. Even Mirabella ended up laughing it off in the end, after giving Tom a sound remonstrance. Her forgiveness was perhaps aided by the fact that she won first place in the baking division of the County Fair that year for her "Tom's Totally Fruit Torte"... The only one who was seriously offended by the issue was Tom himself. From that day on, he always passed up any sort of torte his mother might serve for elevensies.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Notes to Reviewers:  
  
Angaloth: For the names, I looked in the family trees in the appendix of RotK and kind of mixed up different name elements to make my own, though some remain intact. And erm, my final grade? An A+ in both classes, I believe. Gracias for reviewing, amiga!  
  
Kyalia: Thanks for reviewing; I'm glad you like it! 


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